Weekly Notices to Mariners

A Notice to Mariners is normally issued on board the ship on a weekly basis. It contains vital information regarding changes affecting the charts, nautical publications, and other publication on board the ship. On other companies that are signed up to Thomas Gunn, Kelvin Hughes, etc., this provides the updates of the charts and publications and minimized the work of the officers on board. I’ll give you a short description of a Notice to Mariners.

Section I - this section includes information on how to use the Notice to Mariners

Section II – this section includes the updates for the Navigational Charts. It usually has a “table of contents” arrange according to chart numbers, including all the instructions on where to place the correction on the chart.

Section III – this section contains reprints of Radio Navigational Warnings. It is usually cut out and placed on a different filling folder and to be kept updated.

Section IV – this includes the amendments to admiralty Sailing Directions. These corrections are cut out and placed on a different filling folder. It should not be inserted or glued to the parent book. You should also keep this updated.

Section V – this includes the Amendments to Admiralty List of Lights and Fog Signals. This is usually cut and glued to the parent book affecting the correction.

Section VI – this section includes the Amendments to Admiralty List of Radio Signals. It is usually cut and glued on the parent book affecting the correction.

This picture is an example of a Notice to Mariners. I usually file it in a folder and put a tag on the side according to its weekly issue. As you can see I also write on the upper right corner the place and date I received the Notice to Mariners.

As you can see, I only cut the “Blocks” that I need to correct the chart. The remaining blocks is to be kept attached to the “Notice to Mariners” week that it belongs.

This list is optional. I only add this list for easy reference. As you can see, the bold letters on the left represents the weekly edition of the Notice to Mariners, while the numbers beside it are the correction numbers. As I have told you, in Tanker Ships we had a lot of inspection, and if you do not have your system in keeping a good record of your work, you will most likely loose to much time in finding them when you need it.

An advice that I could give you before going on board, is that you can bring with you a copy of the latest Weekly Notice to Mariners through their downloads at “UKHO Weekly Notice to Mariners“, It will lessen your burden in waiting for the latest week to be received.

If you like to add to this information, leave a comment and tell us about it. We would like to hear from you.

You must have a copy of the NTM for quick reference even if you are using Chartco. If your company is allowing pdf file as a means of reference for the NTM, then you can keep digital files. But if your company is using paper files, it is better to keep a printed record. It will come in handy in case of inspection, if the inspector wants to check/verify from the NTM the specific information/correction you did in connection to the correction you have applied in your charts.